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Voicemail Alert Action using IPing

Issue:

Voicemail Alert Action using IPing

Product Line:

NetBotz

Environment:

NetBotz SMS message

Cause:

NetBotz customers sometimes ask if there is a solution for NetBotz appliances to dial a phone and speak a message or leave a message. While there is no way for a NetBotz device to do this natively, there is a 3rd-party service by IPing that calls a recipient and, using a text-to-speech engine, "reads" e-mails that are sent to it.

Resolution:

The Iping information can be found here:
http://www.iping.com/email2phone.asp

We suggest using the "Send Short Message E-Mail" Alert Action and customizing it so that the spoken message is more natural sounding. Use a combination of macros so that the same alert action can be used for several sensors (a list of macros can be accessed by right-clicking in the Message pane when configuring this Alert Action). Test the alert action until the message sounds just right.

For example, try this in Message pane of the Alert Action:

$ in building $ , in $ , $ is $ .

The value is $ .....

$

Notes:
The BLDG, CITY and STATE values for the appliance can be set using the Location task in the Advanced View.

The USERDESC macro will use the text that is entered in the "User-specified description" field in the individual sensor's threshold setting (Advanced tab). This is useful for specifying special instructions to the listener (for example, "Call facilities at 555-1212 to report this problem.")

The multiple periods (.....) after the $(SENSORVAL) macro introduces a slight delay between the sentences to make the alert more natural sounding.

The e-mail address in the alert action should be specified as "ping.xxx-xxx-xxxx@iping.com" where xxx-xxx-xxxx is the phone number (with area code) of the alert recipient. There is a cost associated with this service and users must contact iping for pricing.

Note that NetBotz does not have any affiliation with IPing.com and that NetBotz does not warrant the reliability of the IPing service.